|
Author
|
Topic: The Doctrine and The Wall
|
epouraniois
unregistered
|
posted
The Doctrine and The Wall
I am under the impression that the word 'doctrine' somehow brings some form of negative imagery. I would like to show why this simply cannot be.
Now if I wish to have any practical application of purchasing, say coffee and a donut, it is necessary for me to be able to discern if I am prepared and able to do so.
The doctrine of math dictates that I be able to add the cost of the coffee and the cost of the donut to see if I have the moneys for the purchase. I do this subconsciously almost, the doctrine being well rooted and prepared for the operation of the practice.
The doctrine is a sound doctrine. It dictates that I need to be prepared for this purchase in some manner. If I do not know this doctrine I may find myself in an shameful position at the time of the desired purchase.
Therefore it is absolutely imperative that this mathematical doctrine be well established in my mind before I attempt any practice the purposeful application upon which this rests.
If I have not received this doctrine, I will be unprepared to work out it's practical application.
No doctrine = no practice. Unsound doctrine = unsound practice.
After Israel was set aside till the times of the gentiles be full, the apostle was sent to all nations with a doctrine especially for us, namely all nations.
Act 17:1-3,10, and others, speaks to the manner in Paul's customary approach on his every missionary journey during the Acts. It is this approach of Paul's which binds us to the truth, and that truth is opposed to what most teach.
We need to face certain specific Biblical truths now. YOU need to search and see if what you are about to read is contrary to Biblical truth, or contrary to organized religeon. Please do put this to the test of Scripture:
The fact is, Paul did not go forth preaching to gentiles. Paul DID go where he was sent, and that being to where there was a synagogue. It was at these synagogues that believiing gentiles were already gathering to get a glimpse of that light. The letters had already been sent out regarding the decree of Acts 15.
In other words, as it is written, it was ALWAYS to the Jew first, then to the Greeks, or Gentiles.
My observance is that most are indoctrinated into that which was given to a previous administration because church leadership teaches us that the hope and calling of Israel during that time is truth for today.
The result of this is, todays congregation is aware they have been sent an apostle (Paul), they do not realize that Paul taught two separate doctrines. They are never told, and when they are, it goes against what they have received as truth, therefore they reject what is written specifically for them, for us, as truth for today.
Without the observance of these two distinct doctrines, it is impossible to know what it is that we are given to practice.
Acts is the historical record of God's longsuffering with His earthly people Israel. They have always been in covenant relation with God. They looked for a kingdom. The disciples were being trained for apostleship. Therefore the Lord instructed them to pray, 'thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven'. They were then sent forth that this kingdom prayer be realized and come from heaven to the earth.
This is a kingdom prayer for the hope of Israel. It is the purpose set forth in the Acts and every epistle written therein, lasting some 35 years they went forth with signs following, the Lord working with them.
Paul said he taught none other things than Moses and the prophets concerning the Lord Jesus. He declared that the twelve tribes were instantly serving God night and day. This leaves no room for any gentiles. Did God make gentiles aware that He exists during that time? Yes, He did. Did God call them to Himself? No, it is not written that they had any hope or calling apart from Israel and therefore, the OT kingdom which belongs to Israel.
After Israel takes her place amidst the nations, no longer having the preeminent position Paul writes in his first letter to gentiles, Eph ch2:
Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.
What seems to me to be lacking in the mind today is that these very gentiles who were standing in the outer court, ready to receive some word on what God was doing during the Acts, NEVER were allowed to pass what is called the middle wall of partition. They NEVER saw the Tabernacle. NEVER saw ANY items of the Tabernacle.
The Middle Wall. The epistle to the Hebrews, it will be remembered, uses the figure of the "rent veil". The epistle to the Ephesians uses the figure of the "broken middle wall", the one, the veil, setting aside the law of type and shadow, under which "the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest" (Heb. 9:8), the other, the middle wall, setting aside certain "ordinances" which caused and perpetuated "enmity".
The enmity of Ephesians 2:15 which had been abolished, and which was symbolized by the middle wall of partition, was not a middle wall between the believer and his God, the veil in the temple symbolized that, but a middle wall that separated believers who were Gentiles from believers who were Jews, the enmity being the fruit, not of sin, but of "the law of commandments contained in ordinances". First let us be sure that we appreciate the figure of the middle wall. Josephus says:
"When you go through the cloisters, into the second temple, there was a PARTITION made of stone all round, whose height was three cubits; its construction was very elegant. Upon it stood pillars, at equal distances from one another . . . some in Greek and some in Roman letters, that no foreigner should go within that sanctuary" (Josephus, Wars, v. 5.2).
The churches teach that the abolishing of this middle wall allowed equal access, maintaining that the kingdom teachings during the Acts is doctrinal truth for today, but this simply cannot be truth.
Try to find any teachings by Moses and the prophets which does not have Israel's kingdom hope in view, and there will be no such findings. Those gentiles were made partakers of Israel's spiritual things, but had no hope apart from Israel.
Upon Israel's dismissal at the end of Acts, after all Israel had heard and rejected the kingdom offer which was then an 'at hand' kingdom where the coming of the Lord was expected to bring this kingdom to earth as it is, from heaven, the Lord gives the apostle a new commission, sending Paul for the first time to the gentiles with a doctrine of hope having no dependence upon Israel.
"For to create in Himself of the twain one new man".
Let us examine the word "twain", duo. This Greek word is translated "two" over one hundred times in the N.T. This is but a variation in the wording, for the word "both" has been used twice already, in Ephesians 2:14,16 and reappears once more in verse 18. Further, the word "twain" and the word "both" have the article. It is some specific company that is in view, who can be called "the both" and "the two". The two companies have already been named, they are believing Gentiles and believers of Israel, called the uncircumcision and the circumcision, and these "two" were never so united even during the dispensation that followed Pentecost that they could be likened to "one body". The figure which the Apostle employs rather emphasizes the inequality that obtained, even when Romans was written, for he speaks of the Gentile believer in Romans eleven, as a wild olive graft contrary to nature into the true olive tree. This figure continued to represent the subordinate position of the saved Gentile up to the end of the Acts.
The new creation of Ephesians two did not suddenly turn wild olives into cultivated ones, the truth being rather that all that belonged particularly to Israel was suspended. The olive tree was cut down to the roots, the hope of Israel deferred, and a new dispensation hitherto unrevealed and unsuspected, called the dispensation of the Mystery, was made known. This is something entirely new. Israel as lsrael has no place in it. A believing Israelite could of course become a member of this newly-created company, but not as an Israelite. The Jew must leave behind his promises, his relation to the New Covenant, his descent from Abraham, his circumcision, even as Paul had done. The Gentile must leave behind his alienation, his uncircumcision, his promiseless and hopeless state, and "the both" must be made one, "the two" must be created one new man, in which all distinction of every kind ceases to exist, "so making peace".
Instead of this divided company of believers where the Jew was first, where the Gentile was but a wild olive graft contrary to nature, we have the creation of the two, in Himself, of one new man. In this new company neither Jew nor Gentile as such can be discovered; the Church of the One Body is not something carried over from earlier days, remodelled and reconstituted in order to give the Gentile a better place in it.
It is a new creation, in which all previous privileges and disadvantages vanish, in which there are blessings hitherto unknown to any son of Adam. To teach that all that Ephesians 2: 15 reveals is that the Gentile had been promoted to an equality with the Jew is such an understatement as to be virtually a contradiction of truth. The calling into which these hitherto divided Jews and Gentiles now found themselves is unrelated either to Abraham, the New Covenant, or the New Jerusalem. Neither Jew nor Gentile had hitherto been associated with a cal1ing that went back to before the foundation of the world, or went up so high as to be "far above all" where Christ sits. This calling is unique, and to attempt to see allusions to 0ld Testament types is to prevent the essential newness or uniqueness of this calling from being perceived.
It is in Ephesians, chapters one through three that God has given a new doctrine for this newly created called out company who has, not on earth as it is in heaven for their hope, but called to be seated with Christ in the heavenly places far above all, in glory, the citizenship being saints in the light of the holiest of all.
When we cling to the hope of the Acts, it is because no one has helped us to understand there has been set forth this new doctrine abrogating the old.
New doctrine = new practice.
It is impossible to please God with out faith. In order to put into practice that which pleases God, it becomes imperative to receive the doctrine set forth after Israel was set into her time of abeyance.
Please prayerfully study that doctrine which Satan does not desire for you to receive, which rests in Ephesians 1-3. Then study what form of practice constitues that worthy walk resulting from this doctrine in chapters 4-6. Colossians follows hard upon this doctrine and practice as do the other prison epistles.
I am praying without ceasing that, That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.
IP: Logged | 
|
|
|
Printer-friendly view of this topic
